Introduction

This article is also contributed by By Kevin Boey and Navin Danapal from the HWM Malaysia team.

Introduction

As a new sort of overclocking event pitting skills, knowledge, speed and strategy to find the best PC technology enthusiast, the name Iron Tech might not seem as familiar to people in the OC fraternity, but to the participants of the inaugural HardwareZone Iron Tech regional event in Malaysia, it was a chance to show other their skills in the field. Sponsored by Micro-Star International (MSI), the event held on 13th September 2008 was also supported by various other hardware and software partners as per on the Iron Tech microsite . All contestants were given identical hardware and software from the same batch and were randomly handed out to ensure everyone had a level playing field.

The following Components were handed out at the event:-

MSI P45 Platinum Motherboard

MSI N9800GT-T2D512 Graphics Card

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Processor

Kingston HyperX 1GHz CL5 dual-channel (2GB)

Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM SATA2 Hard Disk Drive

LG DVD Writer

AcBel iPower660 Power Supply Unit

Thermaltake Blue Orb FX CPU cooler

AOC 17-inch LCD Monitor

Thermaltake Casing Fans

Held over a weekend, the tournament was wrapped up on the single day Saturday. Contestants had to complete all three competition segments to pass the judging process for the top two spots that would be eligible for the Grand Finals in Singapore.

Firstly, the assembly or rigging process was contested (phase 1), and bonus points were given to the top three fastest times of the day. Second will be followed by the sandbox or testing phase, where they will install the OS, drivers, utilities and tweak/test their rigs to the best possible overclocked settings within an hour. The difficulty here is that contestants have no idea of the full set of components prior to the competition, so they'll really have to act fast and rely on their skills and knowledge. Again, the fastest 3 wins extra points. Lastly would be the final phase of benchmarking, where the best results win more points, with everyone getting points - unless they fail the benchmarks. They were also given surprise benchmarks thrown in at the last minute!

Of course let's not forget about our brave contestants for this competition, who made it past our initial selection phase and they were: